Baked Ziti

My family LOVES this easy and delicious Baked Ziti recipe, and I love that it’s made all in just one pan! It’s as fast and delicious as comfort food gets and ready in less than 30 minutes!

Baked Ziti

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’m a huge fan of quick and easy homemade dinners. A lot of people associate homemade or “from scratch” cooking as being time consuming or too much work, but that’s an attitude I want to squash with my blog. I make easy homemade dinners for my family almost every night because they are just that–EASY!

One Pan meals are appealing to everyone because the entire meal is made using just one pan! This One Pan Baked Ziti accomplishes my goal of an easy homemade dinner– only using one pan from start to finish! It’s these type of meals that qualify you as rock-star mom status in my book 🙂 It’s cheesy, sauce-y and totally delicious!

You can make it in any type of LARGE skillet, as long as it’s oven proof. A simple cast-iron skillet would work great. If you can’t find ziti noodles at the store, buy them online, or substitute penne, farfalle, or other type of bite-size pasta.

How to make Baked Ziti:

First brown the ground sausage, red bell pepper, and garlic in a skillet. Add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, and oregano. Simmer for about 10 minutes and then add the water and pasta. Bring the mixture to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes. Stir in the half and half and parmesan cheese.

Top the dish with a generous sprinkle of mozzarella and bake at 500 degrees until the the cheese bubbly and golden. Allow the baked ziti to cool for a few minutes before serving.

Can I make Baked Ziti ahead of time?

Baked ziti is best made fresh. If you want to make it ahead of time, follow the directions up to step 4. Don’t add and cook the noodles yet because you don’t want them to get soggy or to soak up too much of the liquid. Continue with step 5 just before you want to serve it.

Hubby says this is a keeper. I did add the 3 cups of water but boiled the pasta uncovered. Also I substituted whole milk and cornstarch for the cream. It was great. I’m so glad to finally add something new to the rotation. Thank you!